Television devices such as LCD or Plasma televisions are becoming more sophisticated each year. Already, most have a processor and memory and a remote control as an input device. Soon, many television devices will have Internet connections and mass storage devices (e.g., disk drives). The Internet connection and storage will be used for many purposes, including the download and storage of content (e.g., movies). The television devices have or will have input ports or other types of connections, either wired or wireless for the connection of devices such as phones, cameras, storage devices, printers, music players, etc.
In some homes and businesses, the television is simply connected to a content source such as cable or, simply an antenna. Recently, more often, there are many other devices connected to a television. For example, in order to receive high-definition television broadcasts, the television is often connected to a set-top box. Due to the limited speaker size and audio capabilities of most televisions, they are often connected to external amplifiers and speaker systems. Other forms of content delivery devices are often connected to the television such a disk players (DVD, Blueray), Video Cassette Recorders (VCR) and music/video players.
Most of these connected devices operate independently and are unaware of each other. For example, when the television changes from an input connected to a game system to an input connected to movie content, the amplifier is not aware of the change and does not alter its settings. In such a situation, it is desirable to change certain settings in the amplifier to match the television source. For example, the user likes a certain audio response curve for games and a different audio response curve for movies or a different volume level.
Almost every television produced has some form of remote control. A large majority of the remote controls use infrared to wirelessly transmit command signals to the television. Additionally, many of the devices connected to the television also have remote controls. Such often results in a household having many remote control devices, one for the television, one for the external amplifier/receiver, one for the set-top box, one for the disk player, etc.
Even though most devices are provided with a remote control, attempts have been made to reduce the number of active remote controls needed in any given system to one remote control. This is often referred to as a Universal Remote Control (e.g., it is capable of controlling many different devices). The goal is to have one remote control that is able to command several devices, including the television.
A universal remote is a remote control that can be programmed to operate various brands or types of devices. An early universal remote was described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,511 to Rumbolt, et al. Today, many remote controls provided with televisions, set-top boxes, etc., provide some form of a universal remote function. Many of these remotes have mode buttons to select which particular device is being controlled and function buttons, the button that initiates an action. The mode buttons are often labeled “TV”, “VCR”, “DVD”, “AUX,” etc. The intent is that, after pressing one of the mode buttons, the remote control is configured to send commands to that device. The function buttons are often labeled with numbers, letters and symbols indicating their respective commands such as the digits 0-9, symbols for play, stop, pause, etc. For example, to change the channel on a TV, the “TV” mode button is pressed and then the digits of the desired channel are pressed.
One problem that has been overcome with modern remote control technology is that of device brand and model. Each manufacturer uses a specific set of commands between their remote controls and their devices. Therefore, the universal remote control must be told which set of commands are used for each device it is to control. This is often accomplished by using a paper (or on-line) table organized by type of device (e.g., television, set-top box, disk player, etc.) then manufacturer. The table then contains one or more 3-digit codes for that type of device and manufacturer. For example, an X10 universal remote, model UR74A lists, under televisions, approximately 100 manufacturers, one of which is Zenith. Under Zenith, there are ten different 3-digit codes. To program this universal remote to control a Zenith television, specific key sequences are entered followed by one of these ten 3-digit code sets, then the universal remote is used to determine if that code set is correct (e.g., pressing on/off turns on the television). These tables are often out-dated, for example, the table referenced above does not contain any entries for Vizio and several other manufacturers, even though, televisions produced by such manufacturers are capable of responding to these same infrared code sets.
Another way to program a universal remote control is through a learning mode. In this, the universal remote control has an infrared receiver and is placed in the learn mode, for example, to learn the code set used by a particular television. Then, the remote control provided with that device (television) is aimed at the infrared receiver and the universal remote control receives the commands and determines which code set is to be used to control that device (television).
All of this results in a remote control that, after pressing the appropriate mode button, controls one particular device. In this, if you have a television connected to a set-top box, you must press the set-top box mode button to change channels then the television mode button to change the volume, brightness, etc. Some recent remote controls are programmable so that the volume keys always control a particular device (e.g., the television or external amplifier) irrespective of which mode button has been pressed.
Current remote control technology is not able to understand the context of the system it controls. For example, if a VCR and a set-top box are connected to a television and the input of the television is changed from the set-top box to the VCR, after the change, channel up/down function keys result in commands from the remote to the set-top box, even though the set-top box is no longer in use.
What is needed is a television system that will provide context to the remote control to improve the user experience.